The Sleeping Swan
by Burrito Swan
Summary: In an effort to save her son's life, Emma Swan is cursed and falls into a deep slumber. Her parents, Mary Margaret Blanchard and David Nolan, try everything in their power to wake her up, but are unable to do so. Instead they must put their faith in Neal Cassidy, their daughter's first love. [Season 3A Canon Divergence (canon up to "The New Neverland"/"Going Home"); one-shot]


_**Rating**_ **:** K+

 _ **Pairing:**_ Mostly CaptainSwan; lots of Snowing; some Rumbelle; part-SwanFire (though I hate them so much...)

 _ **Summary:**_ In an effort to save her son's life, Emma Swan is cursed and falls into a deep slumber. Her parents, Mary Margaret Blanchard and David Nolan, try everything in their power to wake her up, but are unable to do so. Instead, they must put their faith in Neal Cassidy, their daughter's first love. [

 _ **Details:**_ This is a one-shot canon divergence after Emma and the others return from Neverland in 3x10. Things happen as normal after the prologue—Peter Pan swapping bodies with Henry, setting his shadow loose on Storybrooke, etc.—until Pan (in Henry's body) goes to Regina's vault with Regina, knocks her out, and takes the sleeping curse instead of the dark curse. Emma and company then return Henry and Pan to their respective bodies. They then head to Gold's shop to help him with Pan, only to find that Pan has outsmarted his son. (It's fairly fluffy BTW.)

 _ **Perspectives:**_ Emma Swan; Killian Jones

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I, obviously, do not own any characters present below in the story. All rights belong to Once Upon a Time, ABC, and Disney.

* * *

 **PROLOGUE**

Killian Jones stood at the helm of the Jolly Roger as they glided through the air. After all these years, he had returned to Neverland. He had vowed to never return the last time he had escaped the wretched island. His return to third visit to Neverland had not been a complete waste. He smiled as he thought of the woman who'd stolen his heart (figuratively, not physically, thankfully). Almost on cue, he began to overhear her speaking with her father.

"You know, when we first landed on this island, you said we'd all need to work together," David said to his daughter.

"I was just trying anything…" Emma replied.

"Well, to be honest, I didn't think it was possible. A hero, villain, pirate… that we could all be united, but we were… because of the most important piece of the puzzle: a leader."

"I'm just glad that we were able to work together and get Henry home… Get all of us home."

Did that "us" involve Killian? He hoped so. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Emma climbing the stairs and walking towards him.

"How long until we land in Storybrooke?" she asked as she approached the wheel.

"An hour or two at most, love," he responded.

He looked into her green eyes as he spoke. They reminded him of the sea. If he wasn't careful, he'd surely drown in them. She stared into his for a while too, before clearing her throat and looking away.

"Listen, I'm not good at this kind of stuff," she said after a while. "But I think I should apologize."

"Whatever for, Swan?"

"Well, I'm aware that I've kind of been giving you the cold shoulder since… well, you know… and I know that you've just been trying to help. So, sorry."

"Please, love, it was no trouble at all... though a bit more gratitude would be appreciated," he said, flirtatiously tapping his lips as he had done not so long ago. She glared at him for a while, before smiling and shaking her head.

"I also wanted to thank you, Killian," she said, emphasizing his name. He realized it was the first time she'd ever called him by that name, and he loved the way she said it. "For helping me save Henry."

"There's really no need to thank me, love. I would gladly lay down my own life for you and your boy."

He was as taken aback by what he just said as she was. Did he really just say that? Did he mean to say it? Did he mean what he said? _One hundred percent._ He looked up at her. She was staring at him with wide eyes. He saw a flicker of something in her eyes. Something that he hadn't seen before.

"Wow," she said after a long silence. "The pirate's got a heart." _Actually, you have it._ "Who knew?"

She smiled that beautiful smile of hers that made the world fall away to nothing. He stared into her eyes some more. He was in love with this woman, and he was about to admit it right then and there if he didn't do something.

"You should go check on your boy," he said finally, pulling her from her thoughts. She took one last look at him before walking down the stairs. Killian let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

Emma couldn't help but get wrapped up in her own thoughts as she, Regina, Henry, Mary Margaret, David, Killian, Neal, and Belle walked back towards Gold's shop. They had just returned Henry's spirit to his body, and were on their way to stop Pan now, and Emma knew that she should be concerned with Henry and Pan, but that wasn't what was at the forefront of her mind.

Was she jealous? Of Tinkerbell? She couldn't get the image of Hook and Tinkerbell walking out of the back of Granny's together. She had no reason to be jealous. She had no feelings for Killian. They had a mutual friendship. Sure, there was that heart-pounding, passionate, mouth-watering, tongue-twisting kiss they had shared in Neverland, but that didn't really mean anything for her... Right? Emma really could have used a strong drink—like rum—right around that moment.

She was so lost in thought that she almost didn't hear a soft 'poof' sound behind her. Almost. She whipped around as Pan began to draw back an arrow aimed it at Henry. It all happened so quickly. No one else had turned around yet. The arrow began to leave the bow. Emma didn't have a choice. She had to protect her son. She dove in front of Henry, and caught the arrow in her right shoulder. Regina could heal her. She'd be okay. But she wasn't okay. There was something else. Was it poison? Emma closed her eyes, and couldn't help but allow herself to fall asleep.

* * *

They all whipped around when they heard the arrow fly. Killian watched as Emma dove in front of the arrow. They all stood shocked as Emma hit the floor and fell asleep. Pan also stood there, shocked. Suddenly, the Crocodile reappeared behind him and trapped him in Pandora's Box once again. Mary Margaret and David fell to the floor, tears pooling in their eyes.

"Regina!" Mary Margaret yelled. "Please, can you heal her?"

"Here, let me try," the ex-Evil Queen said, still in shock from what had happened.

She made sure Henry was alright before leaning over Emma. She pulled the arrow out of her shoulder, and Regina waved her hand over the wound to heal it, but still she did not wake.

"Why the bloody hell didn't it work?" Killian yelled, aware of the shakiness in his voice.

"I don't—" Regina began as she picked up the arrow. "No…"

"What?" Mary Margaret said, tears in her eyes.

"The arrow; it's been dipped in something."

"Dreamshade?" David asked. "That's okay. Gold can heal that."

He sounded like he was trying to reassure himself as much as the rest of them. Killian watched as Regina and the Crocodile attempted to determine the substance. Neal, Henry, and Killian stood over Emma's parents. The Crocodile's face turned pale.

"It's a sleeping curse."

Everyone stared at the Crocodile in horror.

"Why would Pan want Emma under a sleeping curse?" Neal asked after a few moments, his voice also shaky.

"He didn't. He wanted Henry under a sleeping curse," Regina responded.

Killian didn't want to speak. If he did, he might start crying. He felt his eyes welling up, but he tried to anyway.

"Well, you're her parents. Surely you two can wake her up," Killian said.

He was glad that he was able to say it without breaking down. Mary Margaret looked up at him and looked into his watery eyes with watery eyes of her own. Mary Margaret nodded and planted a kiss on her forehead. She pulled away and opened her eyes, expecting to find her daughter wide awake. But she wasn't.

"Wh—what happened?" she asked nervously. Her father also attempted to wake his daughter by placing a kiss of his own on her head, but failed.

"Why isn't it working?" David yelled as he turned his head toward Regina and the Crocodile.

"It seems your daughter hasn't fully forgiven you two for abandoning her," the Crocodile said, making Emma's parents look shamefully at each other. "But Emma was once able to awaken her son from such a curse. Perhaps Henry can return the favor."

Everyone turned to Henry, who had been oddly quiet and staring at the floor since his mother hit the ground.

"I guess I could try," he said, his words shaking.

He knelt down in the gap between his grandparents and kissed his mother's forehead. Nothing happened.

"Why didn't it work?" Henry said.

Everyone turned to the Crocodile, who was as surprised as everyone else.

"I have no idea," he said slowly.

After a moment, David looked up quickly, pulling at his hair. "The potion! You can make the true love potion using our hair again," he said, reaching over to his wife.

Regina looked over at the Crocodile. "Of course!" she said. "That's what we hoped would help Henry when he was under the sleeping curse."

Gold looked down at his feet. "Right," he said, almost awkwardly. Everyone glared at him. "Well, I'm afraid that was a wild goose chase I sent you two on."

Regina gaped at him for a few moments. "What?"

"The potion never would have been able to wake Henry, as the love it contained was not true love for Henry himself."

"Then why did you send us after it in the first place?" Regina asked, her tone rising.

"I needed to bring magic to Storybrooke, and that was the only way how. I knew that Ms. Swan loved her son. I knew she'd be able to wake him up."

If looks could kill, the Crocodile would have been violently murdered by the look on Regina's face. She lit a ball of fire in her hands. The Crocodile sneered as he raised his hand, choking her.

"Stop it!" Mary Margaret yelled, making the two of them calm down. "We still have another option." She turned her head to Neal. Neal looked back, confused. "You can wake her. You love her, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Neal responded, making Killian look toward the floor in despair.

He knelt down where Henry had been kneeling and planted a kiss on Emma's lips. Once again, nothing happened. Killian didn't know how he felt. He was glad that the kiss didn't work, revealing that Emma didn't truly love Neal. However, his heart dropped when he remembered that she was still asleep. Neal was devastated.

Mary Margaret and David had both gone completely pale, as did Neal. They couldn't bear to see Emma this way and had to look away. Henry reached down and whispered something in his mother's ear. Killian didn't realize it, but several tears and managed to claw their way out of his eyes. He felt Mary Margaret touch his arm and he looked up to meet her eyes. She seemed to be looking for something in his eyes. Killian assumed she found it, because she smiled a weak smile and let a few tears fall from her eyes.

Belle went over to the Crocodile. Killian saw a few tears in her eyes. Neal took Henry aside. Mary Margaret and David were speaking to Regina and the Crocodile. Her family may be but a few feet away, but Killian felt as though he was alone with Emma. He stepped towards her and stared at her. He let a tear fall out of his eyes as he took in the sight of her golden locks and stunning face. She was still the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, and probably ever will see. He reached down and picked up her hand, and held it in his good one.

"I'm so sorry, love. Sorry that I never got the chance to tell you something when it mattered." He took a breath. "I love you, Emma Swan, and I will continue loving you for the rest of my life, even though you won't be with me." The tears that were streaming down his face.

He couldn't believe it. He had lost _another_ love. In some ways, the pain was lessened by the fact that he didn't know if Emma loved him or not, and he assumed it was the latter. But, on the other hand, it had taken him centuries to find someone like Emma, someone so like him, and he certainly wouldn't live long enough to see another like her. No one he'd ever encountered was like Emma Swan.

"Farewell, Swan," he said one last time.

He brought her hand to his lips and planted a kiss on it, only to be staggered back by a bright light that burst from her hand and spread across all of Storybrooke.

Everyone stared gaping at Killian as they were hit by the power of his kiss. Killian was as shocked as the rest of them. Color returned to Emma's face as she lurched forward, gasping for hair. Killian was still holding her hand, still had tears on his face. She stared at him with those deep green eyes of hers and Killian allowed himself to be drowned in them.

"Wh-what happened...?" she asked, instinctively reaching to where the arrow had hit her shoulder.

The memories of what she heard when she was asleep suddenly began to reappear in her head as she became aware of what had happened. She continued to stare into Killian's eyes. He expected her to run away, to hide behind her walls, but she didn't. Instead, he saw that flicker of something in her eyes once again. However, this time, it didn't extinguish after a moment. It remained in her eyes, not flickering, but burning. He pulled her up toward him. She stared at him in a way that Killian had never been looked at before. It made his heart lurch. Seemingly still coming to grips with everything, she uttered words that Killian will never forget.

"I, uh, guess I love you too, Killian."

* * *

 **EPILOGUE  
**

Emma had to awkwardly deal with why her parent's kiss didn't work, however they agreed that they'd try to spend more time bonding, doing family stuff. However, her talk with Neal regarding why their kiss didn't work was far more awkward. It was true that Emma _understood_ why he had left her to go to jail, but that didn't mean she _forgave_ him completely for doing so. Nevertheless, they both agreed to still be friends, and be in Henry's life.

As it turns out, Henry wasn't really Henry. Gold's spell to return them to their respective bodies had worked to begin with, but it was only temporary,and the two had swapped back as soon as Pan fired the arrow at Henry. Pan had whispered "Goodbye, Savior" into Emma's ear, which meant that Emma knew to tell everyone the truth when she woke up. They were finally able to trap Pan in Pandora's Box once Henry had been returned to his body permanently.

As for Killian and Emma, well, they took it slow. Emma had never been sure of her feelings for Killian, and finding out their love was true before they even went on their first date was a little disorientating, but Killian was a patient man, and agreed to give her the time and space needed to accept her feelings, though would push for a kiss from her every now and again. Killian continued to devote his time to fighting alongside Emma and her family, protecting them at all costs. He also spent some of his own time breaking down Emma's walls and showing her how much he meant to her. Storybrooke continued to be constantly under siege from something, be it Wicked Witches or Snow Queens, which meant they were always up to something together.

Killian Jones could not have wished for a more perfect happy ending than Emma Swan, and he told her just that.

* * *

 _ **Author's Notes: Hey guys! Thanks for reading my fanfiction! I hope you enjoyed it. It was nice to put my own twist on this, and Killian kissing Emma's hand is, like, the bane of my existence, so I figured I'd have that as the way she's awoken. This fanfiction is based on a prompt by tomeandflickcorner on Tumblr. I also included an extra moment between Emma and Killian in the prologue because I wanted to add a little more fluff to the fic, although the conversation between Emma and David actually occurs in 3x09 ("Save Henry"). I also get that there might be a few continuity errors in the piece, but I tried to address as many as I could (e.g. Rumple's True Love potion, Mary Margaret and David not being able to wake their daughter, etc.). **_


End file.
